[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]* Dr Jennifer Melfi is Tony's true consigliere. Melfi's effectiveness in this role is part of the reason that Tony is able to maintain control over the North Jersey rackets for many years, when other families seem to constantly beset by internal power struggles.* The opening titles. [[OnceAnEpisode Every week]], Tony drives the [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey Turnpike]]. Every time, he takes a ticket and pays his toll in cash. Why not get an [=EZPass=]? Because that's an RFID transponder and he's paranoid about being tracked, by law enforcement or otherwise. * YMMV on this, but every animal on the show is a symbolic stand-in for one of the characters. The ducks in the pilot are obviously Tony's family, the cat in the finale is probably Christopher or Adriana, that bear that wouldn't leave Carmela alone was clearly Tony, and Big Pussy actually appears as a fish in one of Tony's dream sequences. The horse Pie Oh My is a bit trickier, but Tony's overreaction to her death suggests she represents someone important. The fact that he gives horseshoe-shaped brooches to all his ex-goomahs would point to Carmela. And there are plenty of other examples.** The horse most likely represented Tracee.* One of Gloria Trillo's favorite songs is Affection by Steve Van Zandt. Sure, this doubles as a ShoutOut to Van Zandt playing Silvio Dante and a clear sign that Gloria wants more affection from Tony, but one of the lines in the song is [[spoiler:"I'm the spirit that haunts your dreams." In "The Test Dream," she literally haunts Tony's dream.]]* [[spoiler:By burning down his original restaurant, Vesuvio]], Tony reassured that Artie's reputation wouldn't be compromised. ** And even if he justifiably [[spoiler:kills Tony because of his place being burned, Artie will be automatically whacked by Tony's vengeful crime family.]]* When Artie confronts Tony with the rifle and accuses him of burning down his restaurant.-->'''Tony''': Why the fuck would I blow up your restaurant?-->'''Artie''': To help me! You fuckin' bent psycho. You hear your uncle's gonna hurt my business by stagin' a hit in my place, and that's your solution? To burn it down for the insurance money! What kind of stupid, sick, twisted logic?* It seems odd at first that Tony's father is so over-the-top in flashbacks, compared to the serious nature of the show, and even his memories of everyone else. However, Johnny Boy has been dead for a long time, and all Tony has left is a memory of his father that has been built up over time to ridiculous proportions.* [[SpeakIllOfTheDead Carmela's scathing eulogy of Livia]] saved a drunk Artie from telling everyone that Tony burned down the original Vesuvio.** After hearing Carmela's verbal rampage about Livia that was supported by her father, Artie realizes that while he saw Livia as a harmless old woman, she was seen by everyone else as a mentally dysfunctional woman who was full of negative energies. He knew saying it then would be pointless, and would probably justify Carmela's rant even more.** Also, remembering it was Livia who told him about Tony's involvement, he also got the idea that she manipulated him into Artie confronting Tony with the rifle to try committing the second and possibly successful assassination attempt on her son.* ChekhovsGun: The baby journals Livia never filled out. It bothered Carmella, as she was the one who brought them in the first place and served as one of the main factors in her "remembrance" of her spiteful mother-in-law.

[[AC:FridgeHorror]]

* [[spoiler:The fate of Tony's family after the show ends. Whenever Carmella pesters Tony about what the family will do for money if he dies, Tony tells her that the information will be made available to her when "the time comes." However, by the end of the show, Tony's consigliere is in a coma, and his two most trusted right-hand men (Bobby and Christopher) are dead. This means that, if Tony did indeed die in the show's finale, that his family's finacial well-being is left in the hands of the resentful Patsy Parisi and the ever-unreliable Paulie. Given that both of them have been shown to dislike Carmella (with Paulie showing he was willing to screw her out of money before Tony was even dead), and that neither knew the extent of Tony's banking relationships, it is unlikely Carmella and her children will be left with much of anything. Without his father's influence, it is equally unlikely that AJ will keep his job, and Meadow will lack the means to pay for her law school.]]** But I thought it was made pretty clear that A) Tony made sure a lot of his money was kept where only his mob lawyer Neil Mink could get a hold of it and B) Carmela has already squirreled some of Tony's money away herself into various accounts of $99,999 in preparation for such things?** Plus Meadow is dating Patsy Parisi's son, so even though the match may not have the dynastic advantage for Patsy it once did, wouldn't he be looked down on by other mobsters if he failed to provide for his future daughter-in-law?** Have not watched the show in quite a while, but I was always under the impression that the money would be delievered by the Russian money launderers/mobsters with whom Tony had originally placed it. Also, the relationship between Tony and the Russian always seemed more than merely professional to me. I never really thought that Tony would rely on his crew alone to provide for his family in case of a tragedy. While one might raise the possibility of the Russians cheating Tony and keeping the money instead of giving it to Carmela (be it as a lump sum or in installments), I would argue that this life insurance deal for mobsters is probably a significant portion of their operation which requires their customers to have an enormous amount of trust, making it unlikely for the Russians to be willing to cheat Carmela out of the money.